That our #1 theory has turned out to be the #1 cause says to me that the grounding was unnecessary and that there needs to be some jobs reviewed at Fort Fumble.
sadly the public service don’t work that way.
The person determining the grounding had to weigh up:
1 - make a judgement like yours that there was a non engineering cause, but if the risk -however small - of being wrong
and another one spearing in would expose the person to the courts, or
2. Fly to Safety and ground everything until there is irrefutable proof that it was an external factor.
For the public servant, what reward is there for choosing 1 over 2? None, nada, zilch.
Which approach - for the public servant - will guarantee seeing them retiring with super intact?
This is doesn’t help small business I know but it is the way of the world in the public service, not just CASA.